Hurricane Update: Iselle and Julio breezing through town

photo credit: NOAA

It’s been 22 years since Iniki blew through Hawaii. Besides being a reminder of just how old I am, these incoming hurricanes are a reminder that Mama Nature is her own woman and she can be unpredictable and temperamental.

Isleen and Julio are headed for the island chain. Isleen is expected to make initial landfall by 2 pm this afternoon on the Big Island. Our poor Big Island people will likely absorb the brunt of these systems. Iselle is predicted to move across the Big Island and fall south of the rest of the islands; those of us on Oahu, and likely Kauai, will undoubtedly suffer the effects of severe weather, but the eye of the storms aren’t forecasted to pass over us. Isleen is making her entrance as a category 1 hurricane and Julio is still classified as a category 2.

As for what to expect on Oahu – we’re thinking that our winds will definitely pick up and the rain levels will be pretty intense. For our little ‘ohana, we’re not so worried about the stormy weather, but we are concerned about the effects of flooding and loss of power. We’re well-prepped; water (self-bottled, by the way – the lines and crowds at retailers are OUT. OF. CONTROL.), food stuffs, batteries, flashlights, candles, beer/wine, chocolate, tape for the windows, gas in the cars. We’re taking the storm threat seriously, but we’re not freaking out. And we hope you won’t either. At this point, all of our institutions have informed us that our schools will be closed on Friday (better safe than sorry!)

For our local peeps – give us a call if you need anything. For our non-local peeps – we’ll be keeping you updated via social media (fb and ig – you can follow me here) or by text.

Thank you for all your well-wishes and love. Finger’s crossed, it’ll simply be a stormy day to be enjoyed curled up in a heap at home.